Crate or box



(No Model) W/S DYER- Grate 0r 3- No. 242,761. Pa tentedJunb14, 188 L mimssjqs= mwwi m w gaff! m P8585, mum-awn wahington. o a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC .WHITMAN s. DYER, or PORTLAND, MAINE.

CRATE OR BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 242,761, dated June 14, 1881.

Application filed January 8, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WHITMAN S. DYER, of Portland, in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grates or Boxes for Protecting Certain Vessels and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 shows'a side sectional elevation of my invention with a prolonged hook or holder. Fig. 2 shows the same view with the short holder. Fig. 3 is a detail, showing from the outside of the crate how the holders are themselves secured in place.

Same letters designate like parts.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved crate or cage for holding and protecting vessels of various kinds from injury and from breaking while in use or during carriage and transportation. It is needless to specify the great variety of vesselssuch as those made of glass, pottery, tin-which are liable to fracture and injury both while being,

carried from place to place and while in use, as when the vessel is used to pour the contents thereof out of it as they'are needed for consumption.

My invention is to provide a protection for vessels of such kinds, and at the same timeto produce a covering that can be very easily attached to or removed from the vessel within it. To this end I first make a bottom piece, a, of a solid piece of wood, either round or otherwise shaped, as the form of the vessel to be placed in it may necessitate. To this bottom I attach the sides I). lhese may be either in the form of slats, like I), or a whole hoop or band or side in one piece bent around the bottom to form the said sides. The sides are secured to the bottom piece by a hoop, d. Rivets pass through the hoop and sides into the edge of the bottom piece, and so hold the three together. If slats form the sides, then other hoops, d d, are at proper intervals passed around the slats and riveted to them to make the structure firm. Into the open top of this box or crate the vessel is placed.

It should here be specified that the vessel to be placed in my improved covering should have at the top, or near the top, a shoulder or lip, or projection like ordinary glass jars, pottery jars, common tin cans of the various forms of construction; or they may simply be fiat tops, like the tin cans used for hermetically-sealed provisions. This edge or shoulder is simply to receive the holder or to fit into the holder, which I will now describe. This holder consists of a removable piece, 6, either extending down to the bottom of the box or crate, as in Fig. 1, or only a short distance down the depth of the same, as in Fig.

2. These holders are provided with notches e to receive the shoulder, lip, or top edge of the vessel to be placed within the box or crate.

The crate is made sufficiently large in diameter to surround the vessel contained and the holder or holders at the same time. \Vhen the holder is put on the vessel and both placed into the box or crate, the two are then secured in place by a bolt, screw, or equivalent fastening, h, passing through the walls of the box or crate and into the holder 0. Where slats are used for the sides of the box the holders 0 maybe placed between the slats, as shown at Fig. 3. j

The object in using the prolonged holder seen in Fig.1 is that it acts as a sort of wedge to keep the vessel from shaking throughout the whole length of the box or crate. When whole sides are made to the crate-J. 6., not slatsthen room sufficient for the holders over the size of the vessel has to be allowed, but just so as to hold the vessel immovably and firmly within.

It is thus apparent that I have produced a box or crate of any desired form into which vessels liable to injury can be placed, where they can be readily fastened into position, and from which they can be readily removed,if desired.

I may illustrate the convenience of my improvement in this way: A consumer is using in his business an article put up in vessels liable to injury in transportation. When he has received a package of the goods he may remove the box or crate and return it, with its holders held in place by the bolts or screws, to the manufacturer, thus saving the expense of the price of the crate.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to my own I affix my signature in presence of two secure by Letters Patent, is- Witnesses.

The box or crate composed of the bottom WHITMAN S. DYER. piece, a, sides b, hoop or hoops d d d", re- Witnesses: I 5 movable notched holders 6, and bolts h, oper- HERBERT M. SYLVEsTER,

ating as herein set forth. JOHN P. KERRIGAN.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 

